Offro a questo meraviglioso thread un paio di contributi, uno personale e l'altro professionale.
La mia immagine del 747, quella fissa nella mente, e' il muso della meravigliosa regina che da bambino mi porto' da CDG a YYZ, AC: la livrea comprendeva una passata di rimmel dal naso agli occhi, aumentando notevolmente il suo fascino e la sua eleganza.
Poi TW, TG, LH e BA, SR, SV, SQ e GA.
Incredibilmente, ancora, e spero di farcela, mai CO e UA...
Livrea 747-2 AC, web source
View attachment 9570
Questo invece il riferimento professionale circa quanto avevnuto appena una decina di giorni fa da noi:il volo era charter da SFO a ORD e sarebbe dovuto rientrare ferry flight, invece , saggiamente, a qualcuno e' venuta la brillante idea di fare un equipm. upgauge di un revenue flight e questa la storia!
Excited customers, including 200 standbys, fly 747 from ORD to SFO
They came to see a Boeing 747 routed on a rare domestic segment for a wide variety of reasons, but, no matter the reason, a deep love of aviation crackled through the crowd awaiting the plane’s departure from gate C18 last Friday night at ORD. “It’s my favorite plane I’ve never flown on,” said customer George Pierce, whose grandfather had done maintenance work for Pan American World Airways. “I always hoped to meet Joe Sutter, who designed it.”
Premier customer Asaf Farashuddin brought his nine-year-old son Ryan from EWR Friday morning on a 10 am flight just to hop a ride. “We’re big fans of United,” Mr. Farashuddin said. He’s logged 800,000 lifetime miles with United and enjoys watching planes take off and land from his office in New York. Ryan himself had quite a few miles on United until he booked an Independence day holiday for his mom, his sister and himself to London. He clutched a model United airplane in his hand as father and son waited to board, and the boy shared his vision of becoming an aviation engineer. “The 747-400 is the fastest subsonic airplane,” Ryan said, eyes wide.
ORD Technician Jon McCormick brought his wife Sandra and two young daughters, Brianna and Madeline to the flight. He said he grew up flying 747s from Denver to Hawaii since his dad worked for United, and he recounted how his work on airplanes once had him 60 feet up in the air, replacing the VOR antenna, part of the navigation system, on the 747’s tail. He was eager for the chance for his daughters to experience the thrill of the ride.
With more than 200 standby travelers hoping to get a seat on the flight (all on the list were cleared), ORD’s crack customer service team began making seat assignments hours before departure.
As customers boarded the flight, the excitement continued – four high-school-aged aviation geeks met online virtually and, finally, at the gate, they hopped on board and made their hopes of flying on the 747 a reality.
Several media outlets covered the ORD-SFO 747 flight; to read all about the experience on board, please visit USA Today and The Points Guy or check out @weareunited or #UA2704 on Twitter.
Mentre questo il messaggio interno postato a Gennaio dal presidente, Scott Kirby:
Farewell to the Queen of the Skies
By Scott Kirby
Posted January 11, 2017
There's something very special about a Boeing 747. It's the one aircraft that even casual travelers can easily identify. And we know that the experience of traveling on one, or flying one, is unforgettable.
As deeply connected as we all are to this iconic aircraft, the time has come to retire our 747 fleet from scheduled service. Last March, we announced that this would occur by the end of 2018; now we plan to operate our last 747 flight in the fourth quarter of this year.
It's a bittersweet milestone -- this jumbo jet with its unmistakable silhouette once represented the state-of-the-art in air travel. Today, there are more fuel-efficient, cost-effective and reliable widebody aircraft that provide an updated inflight experience for our customers traveling on long-haul flights.
For these reasons, we're saying farewell to the Queen of the Skies, which has been part of our fleet since we first flew the aircraft between California and Hawaii in 1970.
We'll be working with all of you who fly or work on the 747s to ensure a smooth transition to other fleets. And of course, we'll honor the 747 with an unforgettable retirement celebration -- we'll keep you posted with more details on her final flight in the months ahead.
Scott
Ed eccola, la regina, ad oggi...
View attachment 9571
